Lebanon Receives First UN Aid Plane since Israel's War

Staff unload a medical aid shipment at the Beirut International Airport - AFP
Staff unload a medical aid shipment at the Beirut International Airport - AFP
TT

Lebanon Receives First UN Aid Plane since Israel's War

Staff unload a medical aid shipment at the Beirut International Airport - AFP
Staff unload a medical aid shipment at the Beirut International Airport - AFP

A delivery of medical supplies from the United Nations reached Lebanon on Friday, a first since last week's Israeli war on Lebanon, said a UN agency and a Lebanese minister.

"An airlift... landed in Beirut earlier this morning with 30 metric tonnes of trauma and surgical supplies, enough to treat tens of thousands people," the World Health Organization's regional director Hanan Balkhy said on social media platform X.

"More flights are arriving later today and tomorrow, carrying trauma supplies, cholera supplies and mental health supplies," she added, AFP reported.

Rapidly escalating Israeli strikes since September 23 on Lebanon have killed more than 1,100 people in and wounded hundreds more, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Lebanese authorities said the violence has also displaced more than one million people from their homes in the tiny Mediterranean country, already mired in economic and political crises.

Health Minister Firass Abiad was at the Beirut airport on Friday to receive the aid organized by the World Health Organization and UN refugee agency UNHCR and funded by the United Arab Emirates.

"We are receiving the first shipment out of many," he said.

The shipment included "many trauma kits that will be crucial to support the hospitals as they receive the casualties from the Israeli attacks on Lebanon," he added.



WHO Aims to Begin 2nd Phase of Polio Campaign in Gaza on Oct. 14

A Palestinian child is vaccinated against polio, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip, September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
A Palestinian child is vaccinated against polio, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip, September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
TT

WHO Aims to Begin 2nd Phase of Polio Campaign in Gaza on Oct. 14

A Palestinian child is vaccinated against polio, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip, September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
A Palestinian child is vaccinated against polio, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip, September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo

A World Health Organization official on Friday said the organization has sent a request to Israel to begin the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza from Oct. 14.

"We have asked the Israeli authorities to consider a similar scheme that we had for the first round, something they call 'tactical pauses' (in fighting) during the working hours of the campaign," said Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO lead for emergencies in the occupied Palestinian territory, Reuters reported.

He said negotiations were ongoing and that a meeting with Israeli authorities about the next phase of the campaign was planned for Sunday.